An analytic model of plasma-neutral coupling in the heliosphere plasma

Abstract

We have developed an analytic model to describe coupling of plasma and neutral fluids in the partially ionized heliosphere plasma medium. The sources employed in our analytic model are based on a $\kappa$-distribution as opposed to the Maxwellian distribution function. Our model uses the $\kappa$-distribution to analytically model the energetic neutral atoms that result in the heliosphere partially ionized plasma from charge exchange with the protons and subsequently produce a long tail which is otherwise not describable by the Maxwellian distribution. We present our analytic formulation and describe major differences in the sources emerging from these two distinct distributions.